After a laparoscopic surgery procedure a surgeon must often accurately close a trocar port site in the anterior abdominal wall following removal of a large trocar cannula from the port site. Failure to close the site, or an improper closure of the port site can sometimes lead to a herniation of the bowel and subsequent bowel obstruction. Because the standard closure technique for the trocar port site is through a small incision, the present mode for closure of a trocar port site is to reach down to the desired tissue layer with pickups and a loaded needle driver grasp the needle through the abdominal wall and withdraw the needle with the pickups to secure a stitch across the port site. Many times the skin incisions must be extended to accomplish suturing the port site closed.
Current instruments available on the market that are used to close a trocar port site in an anterior abdominal wall are expensive and use complex multi-step processes to close the port site. An instrument that is simple in design and operation is needed.